Senator Ed Murray Visits UW - October 29, 2010

Huey Yu, Director of the Student Political Advocacy Network (SPAN), started the forum with a smart introduction to the extent of education pharmacy students receive and the role and responsibilities of pharmacists in health care.

Senator Murray then introduced himself by describing recent legislation he has been involved in including anti-discrimination and domestic partnership bills, and mentioned his meeting with a group of us two years ago at Legislative Day 2009 (some of whom were with us for this forum also).

A rich Q&A exchange followed between the students and Senator Murray.

Some initial discussion surrounded the 2010 Legislative Session and the three main bills students went to Olympia to promote (elevation of penalties for pharmacy robbery, Medicaid audit reform, and promotion of MTM services by pharmacists). Senator Murray spoke about the legislative process and some of the road blocks that can happen along the way.

This led to an instructive discussion by the senator regarding state revenue and the very difficult decisions before those responsible for balancing the budget, and how the programs at stake when it comes to state expenditures are mainly higher education, healthcare, and prisons.

With regard to pharmacy robbery, a student shared that she has personally been present during three separate pharmacy robberies, and has witnessed the problem firsthand; Senator Murray agreed that no one should have to work in conditions with that level of risk. One student asked whether enhanced sentencing actually serves as a deterrent to crimes, which led to a good discussion about the simple benefit of keeping violent offenders off the streets, vs. actual crime deterrence, and how the effect may vary based on the type of crime in question.

At one point, Senator Murray mentioned his dependence on friends with expertise on various issues to keep him informed on different topics. Someone proposed the idea of a student-led team to provide Senator Murray with fact-based answers to pharmacy-related questions, so that we might be a resource to him with his work on the Health and Long-Term Care Committee. This was received as a great idea on both sides, and later discussion surrounded the recruitment of an inter-disciplinary group for the same purpose, to provide perspectives from students of our affiliated health professions as well.

Following the conclusion of the forum, several students led Senator Murray and Scott, his aide, on a tour of the School of Pharmacy, with stops in Dana Hammer's Top 200 Medications class and Jeannine McCune's Therapeutics lecture, the PCLC, and a brief stop in the administrative offices where the senator was able to meet Dean Baillie, Jeff Rochon, Ryan Oftebro, and Peggy Odegard.

Thank you Senator Murray and Scott Plusquellec for taking time before the election to come visit and congratulations on reelection to the 43rd district!

NCPA Conference in Philadelphia

This year’s National Community Pharmacists Association conference in Philadelphia was an exciting one!

















The UW chapter took home the 2nd Runner Up to the “Chapter of the Year Award,” recognizing us as the third best chapter of the nation. For this achievement our chapter received $500 to use for future UW-NCPA events. In addition, two UW students received NCPA Presidential Scholarships. Andrew Heinz (a current second year student) and Linda Lei (a current third year student) both received scholarship amounts for $2000, as well as complimentary registration to the conference and a $300 travel stipend.









Finally, we are pleased to announce that Andrew Heinz was elected to be the President-Elect for the NCPA National Student Leadership Council. This was exciting news for all of us and we believe that UW’s representation at the national convention this year will create the momentum we need to strengthen our chapter even more.

Over the next year, we plan to further build our Business Plan Workshops into a series of skill-based presentations, as well as supporting the current business plan teams. We also plan to participate in the MTM Challenge, Legislative Advocacy Challenge, as well as encourage attendance to the National Legislation & Government Affairs conference. By doing so, we hope to further increase UW’s representation at the next national conference and bring home the Chapter of the Year Award next time!